Oregon weather: Snow in mountains to greet Easter travelers, drought improvements
Oregon’s weather will start to mellow out following a week that saw April snow in the Willamette Valley and high winds that knocked out power across some of the northwest.
Those traveling for the Easter holiday will have to deal with some snow in the Cascade Range between the Willamette Valley and Bend, but it won't be nearly as dramatic as earlier this week when blizzard conditions snarled roadways.
Overall, the heavy mountain snow and rain was helpful in improving Oregon’s long-running drought mainly in the northwest part of the state, including keeping reservoirs like Detroit Lake on track to fill for the summer season.
Snow to greet mountain travelers, weather shifts to more normal spring pattern
Those heading over the Cascade passes are likely to see 3 to 5 inches of new snow Friday into Saturday, although that is less likely to impact traffic than the multiple feet of snow that fell earlier this past week.
“You should still be prepared for winter driving,” National Weather Service meteorologist David Bishop said.
Snow shouldn’t be an issue in the mountains between the valley and the Oregon Coast.
Easter Sunday should be totally or mostly dry.
The general trend moving into next week is for temperatures to slightly warm but the weather to stay wet.
“We should start to see temperatures closer to seasonal norms,” Bishop said.
Winter storm helped Oregon snowpack, drought
Oregon’s mountain snowpack — which serves as a reservoir for summer water and helps stave off wildfire season — has improved dramatically during April.
Parts of Mount Hood saw 6 feet of snow while Santiam Pass has doubled its snowpack from 40 to 80 inches, according to measurements at Hoodoo Ski Area.
Overall, northwest Oregon has moved to above average for snowpack — between 108 to 129 percent of normal. The rest of the state is well below normal. Oregon’s overall snowpack is 86 percent of the normal for the past 30 years.
Wide swaths of southern and eastern Oregon continue to remain deep in drought and well behind on rainfall and snowpack.
Salem rainfall, Detroit Lake refilling on pace
Salem is right about on track for normal precipitation so far this year.
The capital city has had 31.85 inches of rain so far since the start of the water year on Oct. 1. In a normal year, it would have 32.89, leaving Salem just over an inch short of normal. Last year at the same time, Salem had 30 inches of rain, beginning what would ultimately be one of the driest spring seasons on record.
That’s translated into Detroit Lake refilling about at normal levels. The popular recreation destination sits at 1,546 feet above sea level, just shy of the 1,548 feet where it’s meant to be. The full pool reservoir level is 1,558.5 feet — a level that has been reduced in recent years to reduce stress on the dam in the event of a catastrophic earthquake.
Detroit Lake was well below full pool last summer, rising to just less than 1,550 feet at its peak in 2021.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. To support his work, subscribe to the Statesman Journal. Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon weather: Snow in mountains to greet Easter travelers
